


have i known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

by BeLikeTheBluebird



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, NB Seb, Not beta'd we die like men, bus rides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27613565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeLikeTheBluebird/pseuds/BeLikeTheBluebird
Summary: in which two teens share a bus.
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	have i known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

**Author's Note:**

> hiiii discord!!!

Now, don’t be fooled. The bus wasn’t the first time they interacted. But it was certainly when they started falling for each other.

Seb wasn’t planning on taking the bus that day. They had slept late and Georgie had a doctor’s appointment. And on the first day no less. They threw on their favorite flannel before heading out the door without saying Goodbye. They dashed a half mile over to the Johnson’s and frantically explained that they would have to take the bus to school that day. Mr. Johnson let him, but not without a snarky comment about the shade of Seb’s flannel being girly. Stupid Utah farmers.

Carlos, on the other hand, was used to the bus in all of it’s terrible glory. He was used to some kid who would pay no mind to him during the day frantically sitting next to him for the twenty minute ride, probably calling him some slur along the way. Naturally, he was shocked when Seb sat next to him. He hadn’t talked to the kid since he was in the ensemble for last year’s production of _Gypsy_ , and even then it was just a hello in between scenes.

He was even more shocked to hear words come out of Seb’s mouth. Well, words that weren’t calling him names.

“Hiya, Carlos. How was your summer?” A simple phrase, sure, but beautiful to hear out of Seb’s mouth.

Carlos blushed before mustering an answer. “It was lovely! I got to work with the new theatre teacher on some choreography for the fall show! I mean, it was hot as all hell, but overall good! And you?”

“Before we get to that, please elaborate on _fall show_.” They put air quotes around the final words. “What’re we doing? _Pippin? Into the Woods? Children of Eden? Catch Me If You Can_?” They asked, each show more ambitious than the last.

Carlos chuckled to himself a little. “You greatly overestimate our budget. And besides, I can’t say, Miss Jenn will maim me.”

“C’mon, I won’t tell Natalie. I probably won’t even see her until the assembly. I sort of try to avoid her. Elliot got loose six times over the summer. I can’t take that.” Seb pleaded.

Carlos contemplated for a minute. He looked around for empty seats. Would Seb leave him if he didn’t say? Too much of a possibility. “Ugh! Fine, we’re doing _High School Musical_.” He put his head in his hands, half-watching Seb’s reaction.

Seb’s eyes lit up. “Oh my God, you’re kidding. That’s like, perfect. How have we not done that show before? Oh my God.”

Carlos shushed him. “I’m fairly certain the one and only Natalie is on this bus. And the Mormons will definitely hear you if you say God one more time. It’s like you want to be condemned. Anyways, I’m sure you’ll make a great Ryan. You’re the one good man left in our theatre department, so it’ll suck that our Troy will be bad, but whatever.”

Seb’s eyes darted to the floor. Carlos noticed near immediately. “Was it something I said?” Seb pursed their lips. “First of all, not a guy.” They motioned to the pin on their backpack. “Second of all, I’ve always seen myself as more of a Sharpay. Y’know.”

“Okay, to begin I am so sorry, I just never have really spoken to you, it’ll never happen again-”

“It’s fine. Just like, don’t make a super big deal of it. You should have seen Ashlyn the week after I told her.” Seb said, not ready for the _I swear to God I didn’t mean I am going to drown myself in Salt Lake with a copy of The Book of Mormon tied to my ankles_ talk.

“Noted. Second of all, you’re quite lucky to have an in with the director. She’s doing this stupid experimental typecasting thing. She’s nice and all, but like in the aunt who wears a shirt that says “Bring me my mom-osa!” way. Though I don’t think she has kids. And if she does I should call CPS because she hasn’t mentioned them once and is constantly talking about how stalked up on wine she is.” Carlos rambled.

Seb laughed and Carlos took a mental victory lap. “Okay, but in a family as big as mine, you wind up with like, sixteen mom-osa aunts. They battle each other over the wine cooler at the family reunion. Very, very scary time. Would not recommend.” They shuttered as they spoke.

“Oh God, that sounds awful! We only have one. I mean, we balance it out with a million Trump supporters, one of which is my immigrant grandmother. God, Trump supporting immigrant should be an oxymoron, but it sure isn’t for us.”

“See, we have a lot of hardcore Reagan supporters. My favorite one is my uncle who told me stop being so sensitive about the AIDS crisis.” Seb said. “He’s not one of the uncles I’m out to. And there’s a reason.”

Carlos’ mouth sat agape. “Stop being so sensitive? People died, John.”

More laughter. “His name is actually not John, but it is Benny, which is arguably worse.”

The bus pulled up to the school. For the first time in his life, Carlos is sad to get off the bus. What a shame.

As he stands in the gym, he scans the bleachers for Seb. He finds them rather quickly, as Natalie is wearing her bright pink ‘UTAH MORMON SLEEPAWAY CAMP’ shirt. He waves a small wave. Seb doesn’t notice him, too busy trying to figure out how in the world one of the junior ensemble girls was dating a senior. Carlos found himself getting lost watching Seb as Miss Jenn spoke. Partially to avoid the second-hand embarrassment that came from being associated with someone who openly says the phrase “Triggered.” in the year 2019. He made mental notes about Seb. The way their eyes scrunched when a teacher said something particularly cringe-worthy. The way the same eyes rolled when Natalie whispered some sarcastic comment to them. How their mouth fell slightly agape when Carlos stepped out as student choreographer. Their tiny wave. He felt a pang of jealousy when he watched Natalie laughed. _What had Seb said? He wanted to be the one laughing at Seb’s jokes._

He recentered himself. It would be unprofessional of him to fall for one of the actors. But Seb’s blond hair looked so nice, even under the unflattering light of the gym.

To be fair, Seb was having the same crisis. They only half-listened to Miss Jenn as she spoke of her ambitious production. They loved watching the way Carlos’ eyebrows scrunched as he mentioned that he was student choreographer. They could hardly hear Natalie over the sound of their own thoughts about how lovely Carlos’ deep brown eyes are. About how soft his hair looked. Who cared about Elliot the hamster when there was a beautiful boy right in front of him?

After the presentation, they got a text from Georgie.

**Georgie <33: hey, i can pick u up after school.**

Seb sat for a minute, debating with themself. They spotted Carlos in the hall and ran up to him. “Hey, are you taking the bus?”

Carlos nodded. “Always, why?”

“Just double checking.” They smiled to themselves as they texted Georgie back.

**No need, i have a ride.**

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted this to be longer, but that's okay.


End file.
